It's About Time, part 2.5: Journey to Tartarus

[no_vampires_plz]

As the three humans, one Hyrulian, one unicorn, and one demon-dog press forward, the character of the woods around them changes. The undergrowth gets denser, the canopy above lets in less light, and the flora in general is much more... exotic than what one usually sees in the woods by the lake.

"Now, I know that the pathway to Tartarus starts somewhere in this general area," says Twilight. "But I don't know of its exact location. It's not something that ponies really want to advertise."

Comments

[no_vampires_plz]

"Sounds good to me. Just try not to get too far ahead of the rest of us." Twilight strides purposefully over to Mia's carpet.

[gorgonfondness]

"I should be able to keep up," she says, taking her place at the front of the carpet. "But if there's another encounter and I have to fight, I'll have to land it. The carpet's getting used to Twilight but it doesn't know Link."

[sky_child]

"I'm not that scary," he says to the...carpet...as he climbs on. "But is this okay? Are you sure you don't need someone up front to defend?"

[basic_powers]

"..erp! ...I just need you guys to worry about defending Cerberus, 84 and I are much tougher than we look." Moon Shadow calls down, after having to work out how to open the dang bag with gloves on, before rattling around the contents to agitate the scent of them..and let Cerberus know of their noise.

"...hopefully us being airborne'll reduce the number of things that'll attack the bait."

[fiss84]

"I'd probably break the teeth on anything that tried to eat me," 84 says with a smirk. And with that she flies slowly forward while looking over her shoulder to make sure Cerebus is following.

"Can any of our light be directed forward like a flashlight are can we only do glowing?" It would be nice to see farther than the sphere they are in but if not, she'll work with it.

[no_vampires_plz]

"I can direct my light spell, but it's got a pretty limited range, so I dunno how much that'd help," says Twilight.

Cerberus, meanwhile, is following Moon Shadow and his jerky with the intense concentration of a creature who isn't quite sure where all four of his feet are at the moment.

[gorgonfondness]

"I'll just have to keep up with the carpet, then," Mia says.

And then, to Link, "I'm glad you're back here with us. It's good to have a balance of magic and physical strength."

They've got magic covered for the whole group. Physical strength doesn't have quite the same range. And if something resistant to magic should come up from behind...

But Mia doesn't worry about that as they smoothly hover behind Cerberus, her concentration on flying.

[sky_child]

Link smiles silently at this. Perhaps if he were another boy, a more vocal boy, he'd thank her for the encouragement. And maybe he'll actually do that later.

For now, he throws a look over his shoulder, staring at the darkness behind them.

[no_vampires_plz]

There's nothing to be seen but the rapidly diminishing light from the hole left by their battle a few minutes ago.

[basic_powers]

And Moon Shadow has to split his vision on the night vision goggles between Cerberus drooling after the bag of jerky and whatever might crawl or twitch it's way in the darkness ahead.

They are heading into Tartarus after all. Not the most-tourist friendly of locals, unless you wish to be on the menu.

[fiss84]

84 keeps her attention forward, trusting Mia, Twilight and Link to give warning of any attack. As she flies though she listens to the echos they make and strains to hear any change. She also stays close enough to the ground or Cerebus that she can drop Moon Shadow off to attack if needed.

[no_vampires_plz]

For a long time, they travel in silence, save for Cerberus's staggering footsteps. Then, a faint noise becomes audible: a low, droning buzz.

Twilight's ears twitch up. "Does anyone else hear that?"

[gorgonfondness]

Mia nods and opens her bag, keeping a couple of healing potions at the top just in case.

"Be alert to each other's actions," she advises the group. "If these creatures are anything like the ones at home, and so far they have been, they might be capable of confusing us or putting us to sleep."

[sky_child]

Pointy ears have their advantage: he might just be hearing the droning noise better than anyone else here--save the dog, of course. He squints into the darkness behind them--and above them, in front of them...

The sound's honestly making his skin crawl.

[basic_powers]

...what he wouldn't give right now for having packed one of those zapping fly-swatter tennis racquets.

Moon Shadow's probably going to regret cracking open a fresher, brighter glowstick with his teeth and passing it up to 84 to shine a little more soft light around, especially up.

[fiss84]

84 takes the glowstick wordlessly and holds it high. It's going to be bees isn't it? Giant Bees. Or maybe Giant Mosquitoes. Either way, she doesn't like it.

[no_vampires_plz]

The glowstick isn't needed. A yellow-green light emanates from the passage ahead--barely visible at first, but steadily growing. Eventually it reveals itself to be... fireflies. A swarm of hundreds, maybe thousands, buzzing busily around the cavern.

[gorgonfondness]

"Goodness, they're beautiful. Noisy but beautiful."

There's a handful of flora and fauna on Lunar that is bioluminescent. Sadly, none of them are fireflies.

[sky_child]

The only thing Link can think of as he stares at the fireflies is what kind of super magic potion could they be infused into.

[basic_powers]

......

Moon Shadow is not relaxing.

"....why are fireflies in a cave?"

[fiss84]

84 was enjoying the pretty show but when she hears Moon Shadow's question her smile falters and she goes back on guard.

[no_vampires_plz]

A few fireflies buzz over to the approaching heroes. One alights, briefly, on the corner of Mia's flying carpet.

Which bursts into flames at the touch.

"AAAAH!" Twilight shrieks in alarm.

[gorgonfondness]

This breaks Mia's concentration completely and the carpet lands with a fairly hard WHUMP!

"Time for more ice?" she asks, not even thinking twice about smothering the fire on her carpet with her own hand.

[no_vampires_plz]

Unfortunately, these aren't natural flames, and prove to be a bit more resilient than that. Part of it is extinguished, but what remains spreads rapidly, not only consuming the carpet but drawing the attention of more of the insects.

Suddenly, they don't seem so harmless anymore.

[sky_child]

Link's first thought, after crashing to the ground with a thud--and rising to his feet to make a few agile backflips out of the way of the fire--is that he must have done something to anger the goddess, if he's stuck in a cave full of fire-resistant bugs of fire and all he has to defend himself is a sword and a wooden shield.

Either that, or she's testing him, perhaps for some ordeal where he finds himself in a dangerous situation with barely anything to protect him. Or nothing at all!

...like that's going to happen.

Sword drawn, he observes the fireflies, thinking of a way to attack them without endangering everyone--or himself.